This soup is easy, semi fast and very seasonal. I made this on vacation with a microwave, a bowl, and one pot on an electric burner. The kitchen was a small not even efficiency size kitchen. One microwave, a dorm fridge, a two burner cooktop and a small sink with a tiny counter made up the kitchen. I have trouble with how small my small kitchen is and I could live with this little efficiency for the one week we were staying in Duck, North Carolina – but I think one week is the limit.

While the recipe made four bowls of soup, my husband and I both ate two bowls each for dinner. It was a vegetarian dish for us, you can add sausage to it, or chicken and it would go well. Also, you could serve it as a soup course along with a sandwich. While spelt berries were cooking in broth, the microwave was used to partially cook the pumpkin – after slicing in into pieces and cleaning out the seeds and pulp. Only one soup/stew pot was used along with one glass bowl for microwaving the pumpkin. You can easily use your oven to bake the pumpkin, or peel and cook in broth to soften it. I used a quart of chicken broth that cost me nothing because I used leftover bones to make the broth last winter. The chard melts down quite a bit, so you throw the leaves in at the end, but the stems can be thrown in with the onion in the beginning for extra veggie goodness. I used canned beans – but if you want to really make it a project you can soak the beans twice, rinse it and then simmer it on the stove for hours until they are soft.

This makes up a great hearty soup with chewy spelt, white beans, seasonal pumpkin and chard. Yummmmmmm!